


You'll Never Be Alone Again

by MoonlitPaladin (MoonlitStardust)



Series: Galactic Collaborations [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: BOM Mission, Blood, Gen, Happy Ending, Keith loves his Mom, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-07 19:42:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16414703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlitStardust/pseuds/MoonlitPaladin
Summary: After so much time apart, finally having found his mother lifted the weight from Keith's shoulders. So, when she's sent on a solo mission with vague intel, Keith can't abide by Kolivan's orders.Or-That time that Keith followed his mother on a mission and things got a little...wild.





	You'll Never Be Alone Again

She was already suiting up when the door to her guest room slid open, her eyes focused on the task of checking her suit for damage as her son breezed in with his discontent radiating off of him in waves. He stood there, only a few feet inside the room, in a hesitant silence for several tense seconds. There was nothing to say that hadn’t been said already so she waited, tongue in cheek until he spoke.

 

“You know it’s dangerous.”

 

Right to the point. She chuckled internally; that was just like him.

 

“It was dangerous before today and it will be dangerous after. We both made peace with that when we became part of this resistance.”

 

She didn’t have to look up at him to know that he was scowling, a permanent furrow threatening the space between his brows.

 

“I still think one of us should be going with you.”

 

Krolia’s lip twitched upward a fraction of a degree. It was kind of him to worry even though she wished he wouldn’t.

 

“Somehow, I think I’ll manage.”

 

When he didn’t respond, she lifted her head to meet his gaze, resting her forearms on her knees after she finished. His silence had a presence twice his size and the room simply wasn’t large enough for the three of them. He had his arms crossed over his chest, lips pursed as he stared down at her, the objections he’d had about the mission still swimming openly in the depths of his gaze. As if his open disdain for her task wasn’t enough, Keith was clad in his Blade of Marmora gear which was a red flag if she’d ever seen one.

 

“Don’t even think about it,” she warned, narrowing her eyes as she gestured towards him, “take it off. Kolivan told you that you’re needed with the paladins and they’ll need you to watch the moon colony while I’m in the base.”

 

“Those mines have been closed for years and we don’t have a full report on the inside of the base. You have no idea what’s waiting down there.”

 

She scoffed, quirking a brow at his petulance, “we have our orders, Keith. There’s just too much to do for us to spare you for this mission.”

 

Schooling her face into stoicism, Krolia nodded towards the door.

 

“I need to finish getting ready.”

 

It was easy to see that he wasn’t satisfied, but he turned away nonetheless, pausing at the door only momentarily. He hadn’t needed to say that he wanted to go with her, they both knew it. They had gotten used to being together after all the time they’d spent with one another in the

 

“Be careful,” he said before he left, squaring his shoulders as he walked through the doorway.

 

Krolia watched him walk away until the door closed, cutting off his visage. She didn’t blame him for his discomfort, not when she was just as certain as he was that going alone was foolish. Not for the first time, Krolia reflected upon the meeting earlier in the day. With the galra forces splintered since the chaos of Lotor’s ascension to the throne and then subsequent downfall, rogue factions of warriors previously loyal to the young emperor's father were still staking their claim throughout the galaxy. Ruin followed the bands of soldiers, their desire for authority leaving its mark across planets, and their peoples, stretched throughout the cosmos. It was overwhelming to attempt damage control across an immeasurable expanse of space, especially after what they’d been through.

 

A distress call had been initiated by a Marmora operative lodged within the ranks of one of the rogue groups, the signal lasting just long enough to trace before it went dead. After Pidge had gathered the coordinates, Kolivan had summoned Krolia, Keith, and the rest of the paladins to discuss their next moves in tandem.

 

“The commander of the rogue fleet is Commander Arlim,” Kolivan had informed them as an image of a Galra warrior was projected before them, her long, dark, hair pulled back loosely at the nape while empty yellowed eyes stared blankly back at them.

 

Krolia recognized her half by name and half by the puckered scar that started at the right corner of her mouth and cut down diagonally to end beneath her jaw. She recalled it vividly from a report that Thace had given some time before, remembering him noting her particular cruel streak. She’d made a habit of throwing her support behind complete annihilation of system colonies at the first sign of insubordination. When she’d been lower in rank, without the authority to act as she pleased, she had made a show of mutilation as punishment. If her actions before she’d had full authority were a basis, Krolia could only shudder at the thought of how her sadism had evolved. Arlim gave no second chances.

 

“Arlim and her fleet has taken control of the Munit Traverse but accounts on the planets in that sector note that her ships have all convened on a terrestrial planet at the edge of the traverse border. A base has been erected from the hull of one of her damaged ships at the crater on the northern pole. A scan obtained by our spy shows a large mining channel beneath the base, likely out of operation for years based on the condition of the equipment littering the site. Whatever they’re searching for on that planet was of enough importance that Arlim has disregarded the sector’s inhabited planets. Before our operative sent out his final notification, he reported that Arlim had found an ore deposit with unusual properties that seemed to possess her with madness.”  


Keith had been the first to interrupt, a deep frown etched onto his lips as he gestured to the holo-image of the planet that Kolivan had pulled up on the star charts.

 

“So, we don’t know anything about these deposits? We don't have any idea what we’d be walking into.”

 

“No, which is why I’m sending Krolia in to scout the situation inside the base before we make any moves. The sector is an advantageous building zone for a galra faction set on regaining their might. The resources available to them on the colonized planets in the area would be enough of a draw without what they found in the mines. To maintain the fractured position of the galra and the inhabitants of the traverse, we need to know what we’re looking at.”

 

The frown her son had worn grew deeper with each sentence.

 

“I’m not debating that we have to help those people and nullify the threat, I understand the logic there. What I don’t understand is why we would send her alone after a distress signal was cut off. Our intel is vague at best.”

 

Kolivan hadn’t seemed the least bit concerned, “we’ll need Voltron to be ready to evacuate the moon colony closest to the planet. Based on what Krolia learns we can prepare a strategy to take down the base and the galra threat to the sector.”

 

Keith had continued to refute Kolivan, along with added support from Coran, Allura, and Pidge, but had ultimately been unable to change his mind.

 

“Emotions are a luxury-”

 

“-that we can’t afford,” Keith had cut in before Kolivan could finish, trademark scowl in perfect working order, “I know.”

 

“Then act like it. Nothing comes before the mission.”

 

“I’ve done plenty of solo recon,” Krolia had finally added, no longer content to simply listen to their arguing, “if I need to go then I’ll go.”

 

Krolia stood, stretching as she pushed away the memory. Their jobs were dangerous, that never changed. Despite her own concerns about the information they had, she had seen firsthand the scars that the power hungry left on those unable to defend themselves. She would go where she was needed.

 

* * *

 

Shit. _Shit_ . **Shit**. The moment that the black lion’s paws touched down on the forested moon orbiting the base planet, Keith was already an unhealthy mix of anxious and livid. He could feel his gut tying itself in knots as he exited his lion, eyes drinking in the destruction that surrounded them. It had been clear the moment that they neared the surface that something wasn’t right and, as if the field of debris around the moon hadn’t been enough to solidify his concerns, the caved-in homes, the glass shattered across the ground, and the quiet of a ghost town certainly was.   

 

“Calm down Keith, getting worked up won’t help anything.”

 

As much as he knew Allura was right, hearing the ‘calm down’ only succeeded in ramping him up.

 

“Calm down? Look around, Allura, you tell me what there is to be calm about.”

 

There was no one around, not a sound save the wind rustling through the cracked, tilted, branches of the downed trees that lay in an angle on both sides of the village. The wooden frames of the homes seemed to have broken, quickly, at the same angle. From what he could see of the homes on the other side of the small river to his right, however, the destruction was localized.

 

“Pair up and search for survivors,” Keith ordered, “we have to find someone.”

 

The paladins nodded and quickly paired themselves off and ran in the direction of the nearest homes, searching through the debris for anything, anyone, that might be left within. Keith went to search the edges of the village alone, gritting his teeth half to dust as each home came up empty.

 

“What’s happening out there?”

 

Krolia’s voice came through Keith’s helmet and his jaw unclenched.

 

“We can’t find anyone up here,” he told her as he sifted through some debris, fearing what he might find beneath it, “and it looks like there was some kind of concussive force in the area we landed in. It’s ruined.”

 

“We didn’t have much to go on in terms of knowledge about the habitation of the moon,” Kolivan broke in, the sound of his voice at that particular moment situating itself like a thorn in Keith’s side, “continue searching for evacuation.”

 

“The whole damn moon beat us to it,” he grumbled as he continued.

 

“Has anyone found anything at all? I’m coming up empty,” Lance sighed, “there’s plenty of stuff but no people. What could have done this? With this kind of destruction, I expected....”

 

“-bodies,” Pidge chimed in, speaking what they all thought but couldn’t say, “with this level of destruction we all expected bodies. I haven’t seen anything that would point to anyone being killed, though, so I’m lost. Kolivan, there wasn’t any mention of this moon being empty like the other one?”

 

“No,” came his curt reply, “it was never mentioned.”

 

“Something isn’t right here,” Hunk cut in, an anxious edge to his voice, “something is extremely very not right.”

 

“Are you finding anything there, Krolia?”

 

The connection crackled in Keith’s helmet before she answered him.

 

“No, it’s eerily empty in here. I’ve only seen two sentries since I dropped through the vent shaft… It feels wrong in here.”

 

“Keep searching,” Kolivan ordered, “we need to figure this out.”

 

Keith’s body was on high alert, muscles tensing with each stride. He’d felt uncomfortable with the mission from the beginning but everything he’d seen so far had only served to stand behind the red flags his brain was sending out. The moment they’d neared the planet and it’s moon, he’d felt a similar eerie emptiness. Arlim’s entire fleet had been reportedly convened around the planet but only three ships had been in orbit around it base planet and they were in pieces, the hulls breached and scattered in large chunks. Like with the moon, no bodies were seen.

 

He’d voiced his trepidations once more but the mission had proceeded, the need to evacuate the moon colony too great to bypass. It wasn’t as if he didn’t understand, but he’d been charged more than once with the crime of charging in without thinking and he couldn’t stop himself from feeling unnerved. Even Kosmo had whined softly upon sensing the tension surrounding the group. Krolia had worn a similar expression of doubt but she had taken her assignment without response, touching down on the planet’s surface and infiltrating the silent base with surprising ease. It was too easy, too quiet, too… off.

 

Keith and the paladins searched the remaining homes but found no signs of the inhabitants; it was as if they’d all just disappeared.

 

“Hey,” Allura waved from a fork in the treeline, “come look at this!”

 

Keith followed the trail over to where she stood, his eyes immediately drawn to a scorched circle of dirt that branched out in the direction of the most damage to the village. Blackened sections continued for some thirty feet, deep wells in the ground where the force had dug in before traveling out in the shape of a V. From his place, Keith could see the massive scope of whatever had hit the moon.

 

“Hey Coran, can you search the base planet for a hole?”

 

“A hole?”

 

“Yeah, it would probably be in a direct path to where we’re standing.”

 

“Sure, just a tick.”

 

“What are you thinking, Keith,” Hunk asked as he squinted off towards the surface of the base planet, “what hole?”

 

Before Keith could answer, Coran broke in, “there actually is some sort of anomaly on the planet surface that would be facing your direction. It looks like a partial cave-in sight and the area is… black? Like the ground is burned.”

 

Keith’s stomach dropped and before he could speak, Krolia’s voice was back in his ear.

 

“They’ve wiped any files that they’ve kept above ground. I’m within range of the entrance to the mines and I can hear something on the other side. I’m going inside.”

 

“Something’s in there, some kind of weapon,” Keith cautioned, “we need to pull back. We can’t evacuate people who aren’t here and we need to regroup. Our intel isn’t reliable, you need to get out of there.”

 

“Knowing what we know, she needs to find as much as she can on whatever caused that damage. Keep us updated, Krolia.”

 

Keith had to physically stop himself from snarling.

 

“I will.”

 

* * *

 

It was so quiet within the compound that all Krolia had been able to hear was the steady sound of her own heartbeat before the chatter of the paladins cut through the silence. The lighting within the grounded ship was dim, the overhead runners flickering as she made her way stealthily through the wide halls, eyes roving every crease and crevice as she crept through the ship. After taking down the two sentries she’d encountered after slipping in, Krolia had gone undisturbed as she made her way to the twin consoles in the heart of the ship, activating the displays and scanning the contents of the storage sectors. Finding nothing, she checked the layout of the base and continue on, venturing further down into the belly of the beast.

 

As she moved, she listened to the paladins as they moved, taking in the information that they were gathering above her. There was palpable unease in each voice, a discomfort that she shared but forced it to the back of her mind as she neared a narrowing of the hall, a large metal door blocking the way through to the other side. A strange trilling met her ears and, as she closed in, she could hear the hushed whisper of voices alongside sharp clinks. The fingers of her right hand flexed where they closed around her pistol, ready to act as she lifted her left hand and pressed it against the scanner aside the door.

 

Krolia wasn’t ready for what was on the other side. Beneath primitive painting inked upon the walls, rows of heavily furred biped aliens were slumped against the jagged corridor of the mineshaft, wide eyes glassy and unseeing while their mouths moved furiously, repeating a low chant in a chorus that seemed to echo along the mine. Their bodies were limp with a grey pallor skating across what flesh was visible and Krolia felt her stomach twist itself into knots at the visage of them.

 

“I found your aliens,” she reported, her voice hushed, “they’re down in the mineshaft in some sort of trance. They keep repeating the same words over and over… They don’t look good.”

 

“On my way,” Keith responded in an instant, as though he were just waiting for his cue.

 

“No, stay where you are Keith. Krolia, continue down the mine to check for the rest of the galra before we send in the paladins.”

 

Krolia didn’t respond, casting her gaze down across the aliens.

 

“I’ll come back for you,” she murmured quietly before she set off down into the mines towards the trilling.

 

The sound led her down a series of twisting shafts, each one containing at least one of the chanting aliens. The further she got, the more she began to see chips of a white, glowing, ore embedding in the walls of the mineshafts. She paused momentarily, squinting at the ore when she could have sworn she heard something emanating from it. It was sheer force of will that she tore her focus away from it and continued onward.

 

It happened in an instant. There had been a seemingly endless expanse of corridor before her and then she recognized wall coverings from the inside of the galra ship, leading her down and funneling her into a large room. By the time she realized her mistake, there was no turning back. The moment she stepped foot within the doorway she was blinded by a sudden white light, the stars behind her eyes only intensifying when she was struck in the side of her head during her confusion. Driven to her knees, she couldn’t help but groan aloud.

 

“Krolia? Krolia!”

 

The sound of Keith’s voice was a distraction she didn’t need as the light dulled, the silhouette of a broad Commander Arlim blocking out the white. Lifting her arm, the galra commander thrust a handful of cloth at Krolia.

 

“I knew someone would come for him,” Arlim grinned, nodding towards the ragged, blood-stained BOM gear strewn before Krolia, “but you’re too late for that one. Tell me, have you brought friends?”

 

Even in her addled haze, Krolia could see a manic gleam behind the sharp, toothy smile the commander wore as she stared down at her with an almost childlike glee. It sent chills down her spine how open her malicious intentions were, sat openly among the white-tainted sclerae of her eyes. As her vision cleared, Krolia counted the galra soldiers arranged around her, the twelve of them easily able to overpower her in her disoriented state. The clearer her faculties became, however, the easier it was to tell that something was wrong with the galra around her. Several of them appeared gaunt beneath their armor, the shielding smacking into the plating that should have held against their chest. The ones that weren’t gaunt were hideously disproportionate, shoulders and thighs swollen to cartoonish sizes.

 

“You dare raise a fist against your own kind? Who else-”

 

Arlim didn’t get to finish before the trilling sound echoed loudly from the caverns beyond them, causing the galra commander to let out a sharp hiss, screaming as one of her hands flew up to press against her scalp.

 

“-get OUT!”

 

Clawed fingers bit into Arlim’s flesh, as she held to her head, small rivulets of blood dribbling down her digits as she tore into her skin. Krolia saw her opening, knowing that it might be her only one. Launching herself forward with the thrusters in her suit, Krolia gripped the luxite blade attached to her hip and drew back her hand, the blade elongating behind her as she moved to swing in time to catch the commander.

 

 

Air.

 

The blade slashed down through empty air, the commander warping out of her range in the blink of an eye. The surprise was momentary as Krolia turned to parry a series of blows that the mutated galra launched in retaliation of her attack, their movements clumsy and loud. Despite her finesse, the soldiers were numerous and their attacks were harsh and heavy. A blade caught her across the arm while another caught her jaw, the blade carving just beneath the flesh in a straight line before arcing up towards her ear.

 

“Krolia!”

 

She whipped her head around so quickly that she feared she might have broken her neck. The voice didn’t come from her suit, rather it came from behind her. Her son stood in the doorway, eyes wide as he quickly took in the situation and then noticed the blood weeping from the wound on her arm and the slice on her face. Time slowed as she felt fear well up within her, a fear more for her son than herself. Something about that place left her feeling hollow, the image of those aliens filtering through her mind alongside the haze she’d felt as she’d stared at that foreign ore embedded in the walls. Everything about that place was wrong and she needed him to leave, she had to make him leave.

 

Memories took over in that split second, a fraction of time feeling like a lifetime. She remembered meeting him for the first time as a man, the barrel of her pistol in his face while his blade, the one she’d left him, was pressed close to her throat. Krolia could have laughed; what a way to see him again. What a man he had become; a man with the kind and determined heart of his father but the soul of a warrior, the very image of his mother. She remembered kissing his cheek as she left him, an ache in the depths of her heart as she left the two people she loved the most. Despite his capability, his strength, his will, Krolia still had the urge to kiss his cheek each time they parted, fearing that it might be the time that they lose one another for good. Each fight made her more determined than the last, remembering that she fought for the future so that she might see it with him.

 

Time sped back with a vengeance, thrusting her from the depths of her thoughts into the heart of battle. Barely dodging a blow meant for her throat, she sidestepped the blade and thrust her own into the soldier’s side, kicking the body from her sword as she put her back towards the wall.

 

“It won’t be so easy!”

 

Arlim, with a speed the likes of which Krolia had never seen outside of Kosmo’s warp, apparated afront her before vanishing again, blade slicing across her collar before she could even think to avoid it. Burning hot, it delved into her flesh and seared her mind. As Krolia cried out in pain, Keith howled his rage. All heads turned towards him, the fearsome battle cry rattling throughout the room.  Keith’s incisors elongated, the sharpened edges of his razored fangs cutting through his feral roar and sitting prominently within his snarl as he moved towards where Arlim had disappeared, the sclerae of his eyes tinted yellow, his ears pointing. There was a fury within him as he slashed through soldiers, his blade moving so quickly that it was easier heard than seen. He danced through a shower of blood, dodging as the monstrous abominations cut at him, cutting a path through them to put his back to her own.

 

 

“You weren’t supposed to be here,” she yelled over her shoulder at him, grimacing at the pain of her wounds.

 

He responded in kind, voice gruff as he raised his blade, “our intel was wrong and you weren’t pulled out. I won’t lose you again. You left once to protect me but I came to protect you. We do this together!”

 

Through her worry for him, she felt a rush of pride. Her son… His son… They had truly been blessed; Keith was everything and more. Her fears took a solid place on the backburner as she fought through the burn to raise her own blade.

 

“Together, then.

 

Arlim appeared on multiple sides in tandem, each visage lasting only a few seconds before she was somewhere else. It was as if they were in slow motion, only able to see the trail of where she’d been and presume where she was going. Her low, manic, laugh sounded from everywhere and nowhere, bounding around the room as Keith and Krolia cut through the rest of the galra mutations advancing on them.

 

“Focus on where she’s going to be,” Krolia barked as Arlim’s visage circled them, seemingly unperturbed by the carnage that she and her son had made of her men.

 

She felt him extend his arm, opening a space between their backs, and she turned with him, thrusting her blade, unseeing, into the space he’d marked. It was with a mighty howl that Arlim reappeared, the point of Krolia’s blade sinking into her bicep.

 

“Now!”

 

Keith swept low, his sword coming up at the midsection to send the commander to her knees. Her laughter weakened but continued, her eyes wide and glazed as she smiled a bloody smile.

 

“It’ll get you too,” she wheezed, red spittle flying from between her lips, “it’ll get you all.”

 

Though her words unnerved Krolia, she kept her features schooled as the large galra commander fell, her form quaking for several seconds before she went still.

 

“What… What’s happening?”

 

Keith took a step back as a white glimmer began crawling over the commander’s body, eating away at her remains before leaving a solid hunk of pure white ore like what Krolia had seen on the walls. As it pulsed, as though it were breathing, it let out the trill that she had been following.

 

“Get away from it,” she yelled, pushing Keith backward, “something about that ore… I think it’s what made those aliens like that. We need to get them out of here.”

 

“We’re in the tunnels already,” Lance called to both of them, “we’re evac-ing them now. Get out of there, we’re going to blow the mines.”

 

Feeling the toll of their battle, Krolia’s shoulders slumped and she let out a heavy sigh before making her way beyond the ore and to the console by the blacked out wall.

 

“I need to check this first, if they have any information then we’ll know what to look out for. Keith, go help them.”

 

She heard no movement as she pulled up the display, turning to look over her shoulder at where her son was standing with his arms crossed over his chest.

 

“They can manage. I’m not leaving you alone down here, especially with that… thing.”

 

As much as she knew to argue, it did make her feel better to have him alongside her so she simply nodded and began digging through the files on the final console. Quickly, she transferred the data to drive she carried with her and gestured towards the shafts, “let’s get them out of here.”

 

* * *

  


“The ‘ore’ was actually the remnants of the planet’s former inhabitants, the calcified remains of their bone. Because of the inhabitants’ strange body chemistry and the pressure beneath the ground over hundreds of years, the remains began to take on strange properties. Arlim knew the ore had absorption properties, but she didn’t know that the planet was barren because the ore drew energy from its surroundings before it could amplify it and then harness it into a massive, weaponized, beam of energy. Based on what we experienced, and how the commander was acting upon meeting, it’s likely that there might have been a hive consciousness left in the remains that possessed the mind of whomsoever came into contact with it.”

 

Kolivan turned off the display behind him, nodding towards Krolia and Keith, “Keith was correct, I shouldn’t have sent in a lone scout. The fault is mine.”

 

Krolia looked over at his son, gauging his inscrutable expression. After a moment of tension, Keith gave a slight not of approval and the entire room inaudibly sighed.

 

“How are the rescued faring?”

 

Coran gave Hunk a thumbs up, “they’re going to be fine. Whatever heebie-jeebie spell they were under vanished quickly after they were removed from the area around the planet. They’ve been welcomed to stay on the planet where they’re undergoing treatment. My sources tell me that they’ll make a full recovery.”

 

“What a relief,” Krolia smiled, thankful for that piece of news after seeing those poor creatures the way she had.

 

“Good job, mom,” Keith said quietly, so low that she barely caught it herself.

 

Unable to help herself, she gave him a quick peck on his cheek when no one was watching. She grinned at the embarrassed smile that he tried to hide with a cough.

 

“Never alone again, huh?”

 

His eyes, back to their usual colors, were as soft as his smile at her words. Again she was struck by just how far he’d come, the man he was, the paladin he was, the savior he was. It was impossible for her to be more proud of him.

 

“Never.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This piece was written in collaboration with the lovely & amazingly talented [Ani!](http://maniacani.tumblr.com/) Her art is amazing ([Here's her art blog!)](https://maniacani-arts.tumblr.com/) and her idea really brought this story to life. Please go check her out (leave her some love if you enjoyed!) and look forward to more collaborations between the two of us in the future! 
> 
>  
> 
> [Link to Krolia art on Tumblr](https://maniacani-arts.tumblr.com/post/179454234763/our-intel-was-wrong-and-you-werent-pulled-out-i)


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